As the debate over marijuana legalization continues
in the United States, a new study suggests that smoking the
controversial plant is about 114 times safer than drinking alcohol.

In fact, alcohol was
found to be the deadliest drug on an individual level, at least
when it comes to the likelihood of a person dying due to
consuming a lethal dose. Heroin and cocaine were the next most
deadly substances, followed by tobacco, ecstasy, and meth.
Trailing up the rear was marijuana.

According to the team of international researchers behind the study, published in the journal
'Scientific Reports,' the findings suggest that marijuana risks –
at least those related to mortality – are trumped when compared
to substances like alcohol.

“The results confirm that the risk of cannabis may have been
overestimated in the past,” the report reads. “At least
for the endpoint of mortality, the [margin of exposure] for
THC/cannabis in both individual and population-based assessments
would be above safety thresholds (e.g. 100 for data based on
animal experiments). In contrast, the risk of alcohol may have
been commonly underestimated.”

As reported by the Washington Post, the study’s results aren’t exactly
new, though they do confirm similar findings first reported a
decade ago. In a separate story last year, the Post noted that
Wayne Hall of the World Health Organization said it’s nearly
impossible for even those who smoke large amounts of cannabis to
overdose on the drug.

"The estimated fatal dose [of THC, the primary active
compound in marijuana] in humans derived from animal studies is
between 15 and 70 grams. This is a far greater amount of cannabis
that even a very heavy cannabis user could use in a day,"
Hall wrote last year.

Even alcohol’s unsafe margin of exposure (MOE) ratio isn’t all
that surprising since, unlike heroin and cocaine, it is legal and
much more readily available and accepted.

Marijuana legalization advocates are welcoming the new study,
using it to suggest that America’s current ban on the drug is
wrong and misguided, considering the mortality rates associated
with alcohol and tobacco – both of which are legal and easily
accessible to those of age. Marijuana, meanwhile, is still
illegal on the federal level and largely illegal on the state
level – except in Colorado, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of
Columbia.

Even the researchers noted that compared to other drugs, their
findings support regulating pot as a legal substance instead of a
banned one.

“Currently, the MOE results point to risk management
prioritization towards alcohol and tobacco rather than illicit
drugs,” the report reads. “The high MOE values of
cannabis, which are in a low-risk range, suggest a strict legal
regulatory approach rather than the current prohibition
approach.”

Despite the new study, the American Academy of Pediatrics
cautions that pot should not be smoked by
children or teenagers, as there have been studies suggesting a
link between youth smoking and impaired child development.

For nearly two decades, Big Pharma commercials have falsely told
Americans that mental illness is associated with a chemical brain
imbalance, but the truth is that mental illness and suicidality are
associated with poverty, unemployment, and mass incarceration. And the
truth is that American society has now become so especially oppressive
for young people that an embarrassingly large number of American
teenagers and young adults are suicidal and depressed.

In November of 2014, the U.S. government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) issued a press release
titled “Nearly One in Five Adult Americans Experienced Mental Illness
in 2013.” This brief press release provides a snapshot of the number of
Americans who are suicidal, depressed, and mentally ill, and it bemoans
how many Americans are not in treatment. However, excluded from SAMHSA’s
press release—yet included in the lengthy results of SAMHSA’s national survey—are
economic, age, gender, and other demographic correlates of serious
mental illness, depression, and suicidality (serious suicidal thoughts,
plans, or attempts). It is these demographic correlates that have
political implications.

These lengthy results, for example,
include extensive evidence that involvement in the criminal justice
system (such as being on parole or probation) is highly correlated with
suicidality, depression, and serious mental illness. Yet Americans are
not told that preventing unnecessary involvement with the criminal
justice system—for example, marijuana legalization and drug use
decriminalization—could well prove to be a more powerful antidote to
suicidality, depression, and serious mental illness than medical
treatment.

Also, the survey results provide extensive evidence
that unemployment and poverty are highly associated with suicidality,
depression, and serious mental illness. While correlation is not the
equivalent of causation, it makes more sense to be further examining
variables that actually are associated with suicidality, depression, and
serious mental illness rather than focusing on variables such as
chemical imbalances which are not even correlates (see AlterNet January 2015).
These results beg questions such as: Does unemployment and poverty
cause depression, or does depression make it more likely for
unemployment and poverty, or are both true?

And the survey results
also provide extensive evidence that younger Americans are more
depressed than older Americans, that women are more likely to be
depressed than men, and that Native Americans and biracial Americans are
more likely to be depressed than other ethnic/racial groups. Again,
while correlation is not the equivalent of causation, depression
obviously cannot cause one to become young, female, or Native American.
More rationally, researchers should be asking what is it about American
society that is so depressing, especially for young people, women, and
Native Americans?

These recent SAMHSA survey results provide a
golden opportunity for a scientific and societal shift to reconsider
what about American society and culture is resulting in emotional
suffering and self-destructive behaviors, especially for certain groups.
Below is a summary of some of the key statistics in these buried SAMHSA
survey results.

Summary of Buried SAMHSA Survey ResultsInvolvement
with the Criminal Justice System: In 2013, the percentage of American
adults with serious suicidal thoughts: 10.7 percent for those on parole
or a supervised release from jail in the past 12 months, 9.2 percent
among those who were on probation, and 3.9 percent for those not
involved in the criminal justice system. The percentage for adults with
any mental illness: if on probation was 32.3 percent, if on parole or
supervised release, 36.5 percent, double the percentage of adults not
involved in the criminal justice system (18.3 percent). The percentage
of adults with serious mental illness: if on probation was 9.4 percent,
if on parole or supervised release was 13.9 percent, more than triple
for those not involved in the criminal justice system (4.1 percent).

Unemployment:
Among American adults in 2013, the unemployed were more likely than
those who were employed full time: to have serious thoughts of suicide
(7.0 vs. 3.0 percent), make suicide plans (2.3 vs. 0.7 percent), or
attempt suicide (1.4 vs. 0.3 percent). The percentage of adults with any
mental illness: for the unemployed was 22.8 percent, for part-time
employed was 20.3 percent, and for full-time employed was 15.4 percent.
Among adults with serious mental illness: the percentage for the
unemployed was 6.6 percent, for part-time employed was 4.8 percent, and
for those full-time employed was 2.7 percent. Among those adults having a
major depression episode: the percentage for the unemployed was 9.5
percent, for part-time employed was 7.8 percent, and for full-time
employed was 5.3 percent.

Family Income: Among American adults in
2013, serious suicidal thoughts occurred in: 6.6 percent of those from
family incomes below the Federal poverty level,
4.7 percent of those with family incomes between 100 and 199 percent of
the Federal poverty level, and 3.1 percent of those with annual family
incomes at 200 percent or more of the Federal poverty level. Among
American adults, the percentage with serious mental illness: for those
with a family income that was below the Federal poverty level was 7.7
percent, for those with a family income at 100 to 199 percent of the
Federal poverty level was 5.1 percent, and for those with a family
income at 200 percent or more of the Federal poverty level was 3.2
percent.

Age: No suicidality results were reported for Americans
under 18, however, among American adults having serious suicidal
thoughts, the percentage: for those aged 18 to 25 was 7.4 percent, for
those aged 26 to 49 was 4.0 percent, and for those aged 50 or older was
2.7 percent. And among adults who made suicide plans in the past year:
the percentage for those aged 18 to 25 was 2.5 percent, for those aged
26 to 49 was 1.3 percent, and for those aged 50 or older was 0.6
percent. The percentage of Americans having a major depressive episode
in 2013: for those aged 12 to 17 was 10.7 percent, for those aged 18 to
25 was 8.7 percent, for those aged 26 to 49 was 7.6 percent, and for
those aged 50 or older was 5.1 percent.

Gender: In 2013, adult
women were more likely than adult men to have: any mental illness (22.3
vs. 14.4 percent), a serious mental illness (4.9 vs. 3.5 percent), a
major depressive episode (8.1 vs. 5.1 percent), and suicidal thoughts
(4.0 vs. 3.8 percent). Among American ages 12 to 17, females were more
likely than males to have a major depressive episode (16.2 vs. 5.3
percent) and a major depressive episode with severe impairment (12.0 vs.
3.5 percent).

Ethnicity/Race: In 2013, the percentages of adults
aged 18 or older having serious thoughts of suicide in the past year
were: 2.9 percent among blacks, 3.3 percent among Asians, 3.6 percent
among Hispanics, 4.1 percent among whites, 4.6 percent among Native
Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders, 4.8 percent among American Indians
or Alaska Natives, and 7.9 percent among adults reporting two or more
races. The percentages of adults with a major depressive episode: were
1.6 percent among Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders, 4.0
percent among Asians, 4.6 percent among blacks, 5.8 percent among
Hispanics, 7.3 percent among whites, 8.9 percent among American Indians
or Alaska Natives, and 11.4 percent among adults reporting two or more
races.

Conclusions
The SAMHSA press release states that
among American adults in 2013: 10 million American adults (4.2 percent)
experienced a serious mental illness, 15.7 million adults (6.7 percent)
experienced a major depressive episode, and states that “major
depressive episodes affected approximately one in ten (2.6 million)
youth between the ages of 12 to 17.” The press release then laments how
many Americans with mental illnesses are not receiving treatment.

While
these statistics in the SAMHSA press release are troubling, the devil
is in the details of the actual lengthy SAMHSA survey results. These
results make clear that suicidality, depression, and mental illness are
highly correlated with involvement in the criminal justice system,
unemployment, and poverty, and occur in greater frequency among young
people, women, and Native Americans.

Shouldn’t researchers be
examining American societal and cultural variables that are making so
many of us depressed and suicidal? At the very least, don’t we as a
society want to know what exactly is making physically healthier
teenagers and young adults more depressed than senior citizens?

Half
of our nation, by all reasonable estimates of human need, is in
poverty. The jubilant headlines above speak for people whose view is
distorted by growing financial wealth. The argument for a barely
surviving half of America has been made before, but important new data is available to strengthen the case.

1. No Money for Unexpected Bills

A recent Bankrate poll found
that almost two-thirds of Americans didn't have savings available to
cover a $500 repair bill or a $1,000 emergency room visit.

A related Pew survey concluded
that over half of U.S. households have less than one month's income in
readily available savings, and that ALL their savings -- including
retirement funds -- amounted to only about four months of income.

And young adults? A negative savings rate, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Before the recession their savings rate was a reasonably healthy 5 percent.

2. 40 Percent Collapse in Household Wealth

Over half of Americans have good reason to feel poor. Between 2007 and 2013 median wealth dropped a shocking 40 percent, leaving the poorest half with negative wealth (because of debt), and a full 60% of households owning, in total, about as much as the nation's 94 richest individuals.

People of color fare the worst, with half of
black households owning less than $11,000 in total wealth, and Hispanic
households less than $14,000. The median net worth for white households
is about $142,000.

3. Cost of Living Surges as Income Falls

Official poverty measures are based largely on the food costs of the 1950s. But food costs have doubledsince 1978, housing has more than tripled, and college tuition is eleven times higher. The cost of raising a child increased by 40 percent between 2000 and 2010. And despite the gains from Obamacare, health care expenses continue to grow.

As all these essential costs have been going up, median household income has been going down since 2000, with the greatest drop occurring since 2009, as 95 percent of the post-recession income gains have gone to the richest 1%.

Amazing at the top and at the bottom. According to the Federal Reserve Bank,
there have been job gains at the highest paid level -- engineering,
finance, computer analysis; and there have been job gains at thelowest
paid level -- personal health care, retail, and food preparation.

But
the jobs that kept the middle class out of poverty -- education,
construction, social services, transportation, administration -- have
seen a decline since the recession, especially in the northeast. At a national level jobs gained are paying 23 percent less than jobs lost.

Worse yet, the lowest paid workers, those in housekeeping and home health care and food service, haveseen their wages drop 6 to 8 percent (although wages overall rose about 2 percent in 2014).

5. Our Greatest Shame: Half of the Children Feeling Poverty

Over half of public school students are poor enough to qualify for lunch subsidies. There's been a stunning70 percent increase since the recession in the number of children on food stamps. State of Working America reported that almost half of black children under the age of six are living in poverty.